Smoking articles, such as cigarettes, have a substantially cylindrical rod-shaped structure and include a charge, roll, or column of smokable material, such as shredded tobacco, surrounded by a paper wrapper, to form a “cigarette rod,” “smokable rod” or a “tobacco rod.” Normally, a cigarette has a cylindrical filter element aligned in an end-to-end relationship with the tobacco rod. Typically, a filter element comprises plasticized cellulose acetate tow circumscribed by a paper material known as “plug wrap.” Certain cigarettes incorporate filter elements comprising, for example, activated charcoal particles. Typically, the filter element is attached to one end of the tobacco rod using a circumscribing wrapping material known as “tipping paper.”
A cigarette is used by a smoker by lighting one end of that cigarette, and burning the tobacco rod. The smoker then receives mainstream smoke into his or her mouth by drawing on the opposite end of the cigarette. During the time that the cigarette is not being drawn upon by the smoker, the cigarette remains burning.
Numerous attempts have been made to control the manner that a cigarette burns when the cigarette is not being drawn upon. For example, cigarette papers have been treated with various materials to cause cigarettes incorporating those papers to self extinguish during periods when those cigarettes are lit but are not being actively puffed. Certain treatment methods have involved applying materials to the paper in circumferential bands or longitudinal stripes, creating areas that affect the burn rate of cigarettes incorporating those cigarette papers. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,030,963 to Cohn; U.S. Pat. No. 4,146,040 to Cohn; U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,738 to Simon; U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,650 to Weinert; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,345 to Durocher; U.S. Pat. No. 6,606,999 to Crooks et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,469 to Hancock et al. In addition, numerous references disclose applying films to the paper wrapping materials of tobacco rods. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,909,924 to Schweitzer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,647 to Dashley; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,675 to Milford et al.
“Banded” paper wrapping materials that are used for cigarette manufacture possess segments defined by the composition, location, and properties of the various materials within those wrapping materials. Numerous references contain disclosures suggesting various banded wrapping material configurations. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,996,002 to Seaman; U.S. Pat. No. 2,013,508 to Seaman; U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,259 to Norman et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,228 to Baldwin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,753 to Peterson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,754 to Peterson et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,537 to Bokelman et al.; and PCT WO 02/37991 and PCT WO 03/034845. Methods for manufacturing banded-type wrapping materials also have been disclosed. See, for example, U.S. Pat No. 4,739,775 to Hampl, Jr. et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,474,095 to Allen et al.; and PCT WO 02/44700 and PCT WO 02/055294. Some of those references describe banded papers having segments of paper, fibrous cellulosic material, or particulate material adhered to a paper web. See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,999 to Baldwin et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,228 to Baldwin et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,863 to Collins et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,613 to Suzuki. Methods for manufacturing cigarettes having treated wrapping materials are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,906 to Myracle, Jr. et al. and PCT WO 02/19848.
Additive materials can be applied to cigarette paper wrapping materials prior to the time that those wrapping materials are used for cigarette manufacture (i.e., in a so-called “off-line” fashion). For certain additive material components (e.g., ethylcellulose) that are applied off-line, it has been desirable for additive materials to be applied within non-aqueous solvents, such as iso-propyl acetate. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,190 to Stokes et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Additive materials also can be applied to cigarette paper wrapping materials during the time that those wrapping materials are used for cigarette manufacture (i.e., in a so-called “on-line” fashion). For certain additive material components (e.g., starch-based materials) that are applied on-line, it has been desirable for additive materials to be applied as water-based formulations. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,077,145 to Seymour et al., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
It would be highly desirable to provide cigarettes having predetermined patterns of additive materials (e.g., as bands) applied to the wrapping materials of those cigarettes. It would be particularly desirable to apply additive materials to a continuous web of a wrapping material of a tobacco rod of a cigarette in an efficient and effective manner during the manufacture of that tobacco rod. It also would be desirable to provide a method for minimizing or avoiding the use of solvents when applying additive material to the wrapping material; and it also would be desirable that such method operate effectively and be easily implemented within a conventional automated cigarette making machine of the type used to produce commercial quantities of cigarettes.